Tourism Impacts Survey
The Climate Centre recognises that tourism is both impacted by and contributes to climate change, making it a critical area of focus in our work. Understanding how climate change affects tourism—through changing weather patterns, environmental degradation, and infrastructure risks—is essential for building resilience in this important sector. We aim to help communities, industries, and policymakers adapt to future challenges while preserving the environmental and economic value of tourism across Australia.
To achieve this we partner with tourism industry organisations to research the impact of climate change specific to their local conditions. We use modelled historical data from the SILO project, which is based on Bureau of Meteorology observational data and ranges from 1889 to present day, covering all of Australia, to understand the historical changes to important climate parameters such as air temperature, rainfall, humidity and wind. You can read more about the SILO project here. We also rely on climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 project, also known as CMIP6. These projections model future climate states of the planet under different carbon emissions scenarios. The CMIP6 project involves more than 100 different models produced by dozens of research centres around the world. They are developed by many thousands of scientists around the world and used for a variety of climate change projects, including the United Nations assessment reports on climate change. You can read more about CMIP6 here.
We also collect data through our Tourism Climate Impact Survey (TCIS). This survey is vital for understanding how to better help tourists and address issues affecting the tourism industry. This survey is intended for people currently residing in tourist-based accommodation (e.g. camping grounds, caravan parks, hostels or hotels) and visiting areas known for attracting tourists to ask them about their experience as it relates to tourism and climate change. You can take part in this survey here.
If you're an accommodation or tourism industry service provider and would like to be involved in the survey please contact us.